The Russia 2018 World Cup is a global event that has attracted the media focus and people’s concern around the world. Researchers can draw several observations from this event. I believe that sport is no longer a tool of entertainment but a serious instrument of soft power. This football tournament has shed light on the experiences of countries such as Iceland, Senegal and Nigeria. The world was able to know about the shifts in the international balance of power in sport and how teams such as Argentina can be defeated in the face of promising teams. The games showed how sport can reflect the development of certain countries. It revealed how fans travel enthusiastically to support and encouragetheir national teams.
The world has also followed the enthusiasm of fans to their teams. Arab teams felt like most of the Arab people. They lost hope and collapsed as soon as a goal or two has been hit. The teams got frustrated after defeats, looking at them with goal counts rather than performance calculations. Arabs went to the game with a national dignity perspective. Sport competitions should not turn into a battle of war, nor to reprisals.
Arabs may have missed the skill to manage their daily life, economics, education, health, infrastructure and other issues. States are paying a heavy bill for this lack of strategy. The lack of planning in sports also has consequences. Many Arab teams reached the World Cup and turned the page of the preliminary competitions with all their mistakes and pitfalls. They did not learn from those mistakes and did not address them. They tolerated the defeats in the friendly games, believing that official games are what matters. The friendly defeats did not ring the bells of a coming danger but were considered an index of a good future. No one was able to explain what was behind this random optimism.
Introductions always predict results. How did the Arab teams rely on the successive defeats to expect future victories? Those who did not win in a game played with little pressure couldn’t be victorious in an official game under true pressure. The problem is that we, Arabs, continue to think in this miserable way. In the Arab world, everyone justify their defeats and use weak pretexts mostly linked to optimism and pessimism. The main sources of problems are generally related to the game, exercises, plans, players and the criteria of their selection.
When enthusiasm overcomes scientific and rational thinking, we may win in a game or two or even win a limited championship. But that does not mean that we are developing in the field of sport. The issue is not just about winning trophies and competitions. What matters is giving importance to youth, raise the level of national ambition and draw a promising future for the young generations. Those who think otherwise should review the postings that reflected youth frustrated after their national teams left the World Cup. They dreamed of reaching world popularity through their teams.
The tens of millions promising young people in our Arab countries dream of a better future. They want to have hope even through a football victory in the World Cup. They realize that their future has nothing to do with football but they are seeking a positive moral push. The sweeping popularity of the Egyptian Arab footballer, Mohamed Salah, in all Arab countries has blown up all that was said about hatred among the Arab people. Arab youths aspire to an Arab hero or star able to compete with Westerners in their home, a hero that can be their inspiring model and who can give them hope about the future.
Arab countries did not think about how to benefit from their few successes in charging the energies of the Arab youth. They left heroes in fields of sports, science and education prey to the advertising companies that use them in trade. This is a legitimate right of the companies and the players themselves. But we should have benefited from these energies and talents in achieving national dreams that draw millions of young people out of the trap of frustration. These young generations have become an easy prey to extremism.
Football and sport in general, has become a large economy that attracts tourism business. Sport in general shapes stereotypes, positive and negative alike. This truth is something the Arab world did not benefit from. It is not too late. Arab countries still have opportunities and resources and need planning and management based on science and experience away from favouritism. Arab strategy makers need to improve the way they look at sport and start seeing it from a broad developmental perspective. Marketing and promotional campaigns, with all the millions of dollars spent, have not achieved what Mohamed Salah did to promote Egyptian tourism. Countries around the world always seek success. Advertising is no longer effective as it was before. Young people have become a huge global driving power and we must be aware of their areas of interest and encourage them.
